Video Game Thread v. Series Xbox One X Series Switch S 5

[Elite]

I've been playing Deep Rock Galactic a lot recently. This is seriously one of the best things I've played; everything about the game is awesome and it's great to play with friends, or just do multiplayer with strangers.

You're a dwarf, one of four classes (Scout, Driller, Gunner & Engineer) and you play cooperatively with three other people to solve missions in random-generated caves. Missions vary from collecting stuff, to laying down pipe-lines to salvaging lost equipment and while doing this, you're constantly being attacking by the wildlife. I mean, I can explain more, but there's tons to explore and enjoy; honestly my favourite shooter game at the moment. Just look it up on Stea for example to see for yourself.

Also, because of the Steam Sale I bought myself Dirt Rally 2.0; haven't played racing games in ages, but used to love that when I was younger. I had this (very old) Xbox game called RalliSport Challenge that was quite challenging indeed for 10-12 year-old me. Wanted to have a go at something similar again. 100GB of download later, I did my first races a few days ago. Difficult game, but it was fun!!

[ReaperKK]

I picked up Death Stranding because it's so cheap and man that game is so out there I have to keep playing to figure out what's going on

I love Deep Rock Galactic Elite, it's a lot of fun. Dirt Rally is also a blast.

For anyone shopping for a good PC game I'll say it again, Inscryption was my surprise hit over the past few years. The game easily flew into my top 10 of all time and I don't even like rougelikes, or deck builders.

[Phoenix87x]

Death Stranding is so utterly mental. I watched like a 3 hour analysis/explanation video and still have no idea what's going on 

[ReaperKK]

I don't think I've ever had so many questions after just an hour of playtime.

[Herrick]

I kind of understood what was going on in Death Stranding.

I was pleasantly surprised by the game. After reading a couple of reviews back when it came out, I thought it wasn't the game for Herrick.

[Sacul]

Been playing Hollow Knight and while I love it so far, I'm a little frustrated by how difficult some sections are and I'm not a very skillful player in general .

I also played a bit of Mini Metro and Knytt Underground but dropped both. Former was cool until I realized it was basically surviving as long as you can and I don't like those sort of games tbh. Knytt was alright, would have probably loved it back in the day but I just didn't connect with the mechanics nor the themes. Great music tho.

Now it's time to play Before Your Eyes.

[ErHaO]

Been playing Hollow Knight and while I love it so far, I'm a little frustrated by how difficult some sections are and I'm not a very skillful player in general .

I also played a bit of Mini Metro and Knytt Underground but dropped both. Former was cool until I realized it was basically surviving as long as you can and I don't like those sort of games tbh. Knytt was alright, would have probably loved it back in the day but I just didn't connect with the mechanics nor the themes. Great music tho.

Now it's time to play Before Your Eyes.

I think Hollow Knight is as close to Bloodborne/Souls as it is is to 2d Metroid. And yes, it is tough as nails at times, the dlc content is too much for me. I think it is one of the best games out there and I am really looking forward to it's sequel.

[Sacul]

Oh yeah, I really want to finish it and get the sequel when it drops. Gotta git gud.

Ok just finished Before Your Eyes, and it was awesome. Short game about living through someone's memories, and each time you physically blink (you need a webcam), it goes into the future. Very emotional kind of game, can highly recommend.

[ReaperKK]

Control is for free on the Epic game store today, I can't recommend the game enough for those who haven't played it. It's a fantastic game with great mechanics and a story that gave me heavy x-files vibes.

[cramx3]

Since I got back from euroland and the holidays are over, it's time to get back into gaming....

I had been loving BF2042, but there's no new content since I went away so I decided to try out the new Warzone map with the Vanguard integration and to my surprise, I'm loving it.  It seems to be getting a lot of hate and some of that, I can see and understand (the 3rd partying, high ground, too much cover of this map) but I'm genuinely enjoying warzone again.  It may be just due to it being new and fresh, but my enjoyment also may be due to the anti-cheat finally being implemented and I all of the sudden am playing significantly better. Even without any of the unlocks, I feel I can compete.

Oh, and I love how I can actually track my stats unlike Battlefield.  I can actually see how I am performing and not just guessing.  I can actually see my stats are BETTER than they were the last time I played.  That's pretty encouraging to keep playing because I know I haven't hit my ceiling yet.   

[Cool Chris]

Hollow Knight was so good, yet I gave up at some point, not sure where but I believe it was much closer to the end than the beginning. There was a boss I just couldn't do anything against and no online help made it any easier. So regrettably I put the game down.

My sister got me Jedi Academy/Jedi Outcast for the Switch. I didn't even know that was a thing! I loved Outcast when I played it on PC years ago, but cannot say for certain if I ever played Academy.

My gaming time has dwindled as of late with my wife working long hours and me carrying more of the home/kids load, I haven't played anything since finishing BotW months ago. 

[Puppies_On_Acid]

Hollow Knight was so good, yet I gave up at some point, not sure where but I believe it was much closer to the end than the beginning. There was a boss I just couldn't do anything against and no online help made it any easier. So regrettably I put the game down.

My sister got me Jedi Academy/Jedi Outcast for the Switch. I didn't even know that was a thing! I loved Outcast when I played it on PC years ago, but cannot say for certain if I ever played Academy.

My gaming time has dwindled as of late with my wife working long hours and me carrying more of the home/kids load, I haven't played anything since finishing BotW months ago.

Jedi Academy was amazing back in the day. I probably haven't played it since about 2004.

[Elite]

Hollow Knight was so good, yet I gave up at some point, not sure where but I believe it was much closer to the end than the beginning. There was a boss I just couldn't do anything against and no online help made it any easier. So regrettably I put the game down.

Which one was it? Hollow Knight was brilliant, one of the best games I have ever played.

[Sacul]

Just finished GRIS, nice little platformer that's extremely aesthetic.

Tried Distance for a little bit but wasn't my thing, I'm not into racing games these days.

Now, if I can get it up and running, I'll finally try Shenmue.

[Cool Chris]

Hollow Knight was so good, yet I gave up at some point, not sure where but I believe it was much closer to the end than the beginning. There was a boss I just couldn't do anything against and no online help made it any easier. So regrettably I put the game down.

Which one was it? Hollow Knight was brilliant, one of the best games I have ever played.

Which boss? The one where there were 5 or 6 of the same guys. I could never kill more than 2.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Been playing Icarus alot lately. It's a good survival game, aleast the kind of game I enjoy.

Thinking about getting into Escape from Tarkov again but I have to be in the right mood for that. No other game like it though.

[El Barto]

I know it's only beta, but Back4Blood is a massive pile of shit right now.

Does anybody know if this is still the case? I didn't even know that this was happening until now, but I really loved the L4D series, and now that I have a modern PC I was knocking around checking this out.

[Elite]

Hollow Knight was so good, yet I gave up at some point, not sure where but I believe it was much closer to the end than the beginning. There was a boss I just couldn't do anything against and no online help made it any easier. So regrettably I put the game down.

Which one was it? Hollow Knight was brilliant, one of the best games I have ever played.

Which boss? The one where there were 5 or 6 of the same guys. I could never kill more than 2.

I rhink you mean the watcher knights. Those were pretty difficult, they require a lot of evading if I remember correctly. There's this trick where you can kill the first one before the battle even starts, by dropping a chandelier on top of him. Again, if I remember correctly..

[Cool Chris]

Hollow Knight was so good, yet I gave up at some point, not sure where but I believe it was much closer to the end than the beginning. There was a boss I just couldn't do anything against and no online help made it any easier. So regrettably I put the game down.

Which one was it? Hollow Knight was brilliant, one of the best games I have ever played.

Which boss? The one where there were 5 or 6 of the same guys. I could never kill more than 2.

I rhink you mean the watcher knights. Those were pretty difficult, they require a lot of evading if I remember correctly. There's this trick where you can kill the first one before the battle even starts, by dropping a chandelier on top of him. Again, if I remember correctly..

Yep, and I know that trick. I watched several tutorials/walkthroughs and still could never kill more than a couple of them. The one game I never finished that I feel bad about not finishing.

[orcus116]

I've always saved the Watcher Knights until towards the end when I was fairly well upgraded (full nail, access to combat heavy charm combos, etc). Considering they only have 240ish HP each and you only fight two at a time they're definitely more doable the further you are in the game.

[Sacul]

Well I couldn't get Shenmue to work, so I just began playing Disco Elysium. Damn this is very well written and quite fun so far. And you can die at the very beginning, oops

[Cool Chris]

I also played a bit of Mini Metro and Knytt Underground but dropped both. Former was cool until I realized it was basically surviving as long as you can and I don't like those sort of games tbh. Knytt was alright, would have probably loved it back in the day but I just didn't connect with the mechanics nor the themes. Great music tho.

I thought Knytt Underground was a great game, I forgot about it till your post.

[Herrick]

Well I couldn't get Shenmue to work, so I just began playing Disco Elysium. Damn this is very well written and quite fun so far. And you can die at the very beginning, oops

What was the problem with Shenmue? I've played it on Steam and didn't run into any problems.

I finished Disco Elysium the other day. No spoilers but the ending was kinda meh. It just kind of happens. I had skill points I was saving up and I never got to use them.

It's a great game but if I play it again, I will definitely play it without the narrator. The dude's voice is awesome and he did a great job but it was just too much for me especially with all the Encyclopedia stuff and other Brain Parts chiming in. All the political stuff and the big guy rambling on about race was a major slog."Cuno (Herrick) doesn't fuckin care!"

Edit: One minor complaint. Some times dialogue choices will end a particular section without any warning. There are lots of dialogue trees that have something like "Proceed" "Move on" or "Conclude" in parenthesis but some of them don't have that. However, I will admit that it can be kind of obvious when a list of responses will close out a particular section and I think you can always go back to that section to try out other responses so it's really a minor complaint.

[Sacul]

I'm playing on my Linux laptop most of the time and all I could get was a black screen for Shenmue . I'll prob try again on my desktop which has Windows 10 installed.

Oh that's a shame about the ending, I'll keep my expectations low then.

On another note, I've mostly been playing Hollow Knight and I feel I'm getting closer to the end. Still got lots of things to get through.

[Elite]

On another note, I've mostly been playing Hollow Knight and I feel I'm getting closer to the end. Still got lots of things to get through.

I want to play Hollow Knight again, but have my memory of the first time removed first

[Revenge319]

I played Hollow Knight for one or two hours a couple years back, but it remains on my backlog with over 60 other games. No idea when I'll get back to it, but I'm sure I will someday.

Currently, I'm playing through Pokemon Brilliant Diamond. Really enjoying myself with it, despite some flaws that really shouldn't be there.

[Herrick]

I'm playing on my Linux laptop most of the time and all I could get was a black screen for Shenmue . I'll prob try again on my desktop which has Windows 10 installed.

Oh that's a shame about the ending, I'll keep my expectations low then.

That sucks. I don't know anything about Linux.

The ending for Disco Elysium isn't that bad and the game is definitely worth playing 

[Sacul]

After almost 30 hours, I finally beat Hollow Knight. Damn, that was one of the most intense gaming experiences I've had in a long while, and I only had like an 80% completion rate.

[Stadler]

I learned a new word today:  "Metroidvania".   

My daughter got me a PS4 for Christmas (used) and the Resident Evil 2 remaster and Battlefront II.  I just beat the Leon story on RE2 (starting the Claire 2nd run) and it's amazing.   Once I finish Angry Birds on PS3 (don't laugh) I may look into trading out the remaining games I have for the PS4.

[ErHaO]

On a random note, HDR has been a gamechanger for me. I was playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider on the Series X on a LG CX and man that intro with a lot of dark scenes just looks amazing. Overall the list of games with well done HDR is rapidly increasing and even some auto-HDR games on the Xbox look competent.

Unfortunately (probably) the majority of HDR labeled screens aren't good at it. Many HDR marketed screens are barely HDR, even a lot of expensive gaming monitors. They really need to set a marketing standard of 600-700 nits minimum and a minimum degree of local dimming/blackness levels or something.

[JLa]

Back when I was a kid, one could rent consoles and games at the local video store. I wish this was still a thing. I'd love to try the latest Metroid game, but I just can't get myself to spend the money for a Switch and the game. It's just too much for a few hours of entertainment.

OK, if I buy it I'll probably play it more than a few hours, but still.

[ReaperKK]

On a random note, HDR has been a gamechanger for me. I was playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider on the Series X on a LG CX and man that intro with a lot of dark scenes just looks amazing. Overall the list of games with well done HDR is rapidly increasing and even some auto-HDR games on the Xbox look competent.

Unfortunately (probably) the majority of HDR labeled screens aren't good at it. Many HDR marketed screens are barely HDR, even a lot of expensive gaming monitors. They really need to set a marketing standard of 600-700 nits minimum and a minimum degree of local dimming/blackness levels or something.

I got my first HD monitor last year and I completely agree, it's awesome. I don't like running HDR in windows though so it's annoying having to switch it on prior to playing.

[Herrick]

Back when I was a kid, one could rent consoles and games at the local video store. I wish this was still a thing. I'd love to try the latest Metroid game, but I just can't get myself to spend the money for a Switch and the game. It's just too much for a few hours of entertainment.

OK, if I buy it I'll probably play it more than a few hours, but still.

There used to be a rental service via mail but I don't know if they do that anymore.

[Chino]

Back when I was a kid, one could rent consoles and games at the local video store. I wish this was still a thing. I'd love to try the latest Metroid game, but I just can't get myself to spend the money for a Switch and the game. It's just too much for a few hours of entertainment.

OK, if I buy it I'll probably play it more than a few hours, but still.

The resale value on Switch Lites are insane. You could buy one for $200, buy Metroid, and then sell them both used for $190-$200. You could probably buy a used one from the get-go and then resell if for the same price. Just a thought.

[faizoff]

On a random note, HDR has been a gamechanger for me. I was playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider on the Series X on a LG CX and man that intro with a lot of dark scenes just looks amazing. Overall the list of games with well done HDR is rapidly increasing and even some auto-HDR games on the Xbox look competent.

Unfortunately (probably) the majority of HDR labeled screens aren't good at it. Many HDR marketed screens are barely HDR, even a lot of expensive gaming monitors. They really need to set a marketing standard of 600-700 nits minimum and a minimum degree of local dimming/blackness levels or something.

I got my first HD monitor last year and I completely agree, it's awesome. I don't like running HDR in windows though so it's annoying having to switch it on prior to playing.

I'm kinda itching to pick up those LG OLEDs, there's word that a 42" monitor is to be released this year which I would be inclined to pick up. I have a 32 4K monitor with some form of HDR which is really just ok, I don't even bother with it. It's marginally better but it's just 300 nits, nowhere near any real form of HDR. Some games like the 2013 Tomb Raider actually does look nice with HDR turned on.